$220,000 electric car does 0-60 in 3.7sec

[orly_andico]

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/19/au...es/19ELEC.html

Lots of Zoom, With Batteries
By CHRIS DIXON

.K., you hit this button," says Alan Cocconi, pointing to a control on a little G-force meter attached to his dashboard. "Then hold down the brake really hard. Push on it with all your might. When it says `Go,' let off the brake and hold on."

With that he steps out of the car. A flat, straight half-mile of asphalt is dead ahead; alongside stretches the runway of Brackett Field Airport east of Los Angeles. With the throttle and brake pedals fully pressed, the bright yellow sports car shudders with power — but rather than the roar of a caged Lamborghini, the only sound is a muffled whine. Though the whine becomes only marginally louder when the brakes are released, everything else changes as the car lunges forward in a jaw-dropping, stomach-clenching and near-terrifying blur. In 3.7 seconds, it's all over. That's the time it has taken for this little electric sports car, the Tzero by AC Propulsion, to reach 60 miles per hour. And its only power is from a simple array of lithium-ion laptop computer batteries.

Few street-legal automobiles are capable of running to 60 m.p.h. in under four seconds, and it's a safe bet that the Tzero is the only electric-powered car that can. The founders of AC Propulsion, based in San Dimas in the suburbs east of Los Angeles, seem to think that the lithium-ion batteries have led them to the holy grail of electric motoring: range and performance in one package. This is, however, after the major automakers have cast aside ideas of all-electric vehicles and turned their attention to hybrids and fuel cells.

Thunderously fast but whisper quiet, the rear-wheel-drive Tzero began life in the late 1990's as a showcase for AC Propulsion's high-revving AC 150 drive system. A 220-horsepower street-legal racer, the car was powered by a series of deep-cycle automotive lead acid batteries. With 1,250 pounds of batteries on board, the original car was good for 4.1-second zero-to-60 times with a top speed of 90 m.p.h. and a range of 80 to 90 miles.

Last month, however, AC Propulsion unveiled the latest version of the car, now powered by 6,800 lightweight lithium-ion laptop computer batteries. With these batteries — and an increased top speed — the Tzero weighs 700 pounds less and the company says it will run up to 300 miles on a single charge — which requires a few hours plugged into a 220-volt outlet like the ones many households have for clothes dryers. It can also be recharged at a 110-volt outlet, but it takes about three times as long.

The car, priced at $220,000, is available only directly from AC Propulsion and has not yet met federal safety regulations. The company says, though, that it is legal for street use when registered as a "special construction vehicle," which is the way homemade and kit-built cars are registered. The Tzero at the speedway had a California license plate and had been driven to the track. So far, the company said, deposits have been made for eight cars with the lithium-ion system. (Two earlier versions, with lead acid batteries, were sold for private use.)

What will a Tzero buyer get?

A car that, from zero to 100 and through the quarter mile, will run with, or beat, the $281,000 Lamborghini Murciélago, the $224,000 Ferrari 575M Maranello or the $440,000 Porsche Carrera GT. And do it cleanly and quietly. However, with the single-gear Tzero's engine limited to just over 100 m.p.h. at 13,300 r.p.m.'s, it will never win an oval-track race against those supercars. But its developers are betting that the car's power and range will generate renewed interest not only in their company's offerings, but in electric cars in general.

[ghosthunter]

"shocking!" :D

[empy]

that's a lot of laptops!!